Dear Friend,

Just after saving Israel from Egypt, God had a word for His people: "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it" (Psalm 81:10). This was a symmetrical statement with two equal parts, each with its own responsibility. One part was Israel's, the other was God's.

The children of Israel were to "open" their "mouths." Their mouths symbolize hunger and opening them represents their effort to satisfy their hunger by eating. But God's instruction went further than the norm. The Jews were to open their mouths "wide," or make a significant effort so they could receive the greatest possible feeding and satisfaction. God would then "fill" them. But with what?

Scripture reveals He filled the Jews with many good things - food, fresh water, houses, lands, flocks, vineyards, orchards, and so forth, in the Promised Land. But this verse implies something more and deeper. "I" will fill it conveys the thought that God would fill their "mouths," or spiritual hunger, with Himself. "I myself in all my sweet, strengthening fullness will fill your souls to the full." So, God was saying, "Let Me satiate you, or fill you with my glorious Word, Spirit, and presence till you can hold no more."

Spiritually speaking, by charging His people to open "wide," God was saying, "I saved you by blood in Egypt and baptized you in water at the Red Sea, but now I want more of you, so I can give you more of Me. Open 'wide,' or give me more room in your life, more space, more time alone with you in prayer, worship and meditative study of My Word." It was an ambitious request.

God's people had been close-mouthed and tight-lipped toward Him up to this point, seeking and receiving as little of Him as they could get by with. But now He wanted them to be fully receptive - wide open! - so they could receive everything He had to give.

Until they responded, God was forced to wait. Why? He couldn't fulfill His part until they fulfilled theirs. There is no other way to satisfy hunger. How do we satisfy natural hunger? We open our mouths, we fill them, and we are satisfied, and always in this order: no opening, no filling; and no filling, no satisfaction. Conversely, the wider we open our mouths, the more we are filled, and the deeper we are satisfied.

If left physically hungry, we suffer symptoms that are fairly predictable. We are discontent, and may be irritable. We search for food, any source of food, and often settle for those that are available but very unnutritious. We are weak, and thus not quite ourselves. We don't walk well. We don't work well. And we are not very joyful.

If left spiritually hungry, our spiritual life suffers similar symptoms. We are discontent with our new life in Christ, and are often irritable, when we could be flowing in God's peace that passes all understanding. We search for something, anything, to fill the void, and often find temporary satisfaction in cheap, worldly, worthless things. We are weak, and therefore not ourselves, or not the spiritually strong people we can and should be in Christ. We don't walk (that is, live) well, living in the flesh rather than in the Spirit and living far from Christ rather than close by His side. We don't work well, since spiritually anemic Christians usually do not do their secular work "heartily, as to the Lord" (Colossians 3:23), and Jesus also cannot use them effectively in His kingdom ministries. And we manifest no joy or other fruit of the Spirit. Therefore, we don't reflect Christ accurately to others. And why? We are spiritually close-mouthed and tight-lipped, refusing to open "wide" as our heavenly Father has so lovingly and repeatedly asked us to do. And because we won't give ourselves wholly to Him, He cannot give Himself wholly to us.

Young mothers will affirm, it's hard to feed an infant who doesn't want to "open wide." They close their mouths, purse their lips, and drop or turn away their heads. A loving mother must be very patient, persistent, and inventive to get the food in - singing, laughing, making funny faces, tickling their sides or feet, and, in the final stages, issuing mortal threats!

Well, there it is. This snapshot of infantile behavior describes us to a tee. We are the close-mouthed, tight-lipped, hard-to-feed infants of the Lord. This might be excusable if we had only recently been born-again. But it's not excusable for most of us, because we are no longer spiritual infants. Some of us have been hard to feed and bless for 10, 20, 30, or 40 years! Isn't it time to open "wide"? To give God more room, time, and effort, so we can experience all there is to experience of Him? Like the children of Israel, we've been saved by blood and baptized in water (and the living water of the Spirit), but God now wants more of us, so He can give us more of Him. There is no telling how much of God Himself - a rich, intimate, nourishing, elevating, satisfying friendship with Jesus, by His Spirit, through His Word, in His sensed presence! - awaits, if we will only comply. And if we will not try to get by with spiritual snacking.

Snack food companies have clever sales pitches, like, "Why go around hungry?" Obviously, they are trying to get us to eat snacks between meals. While enriching them, this practice impoverishes us. We end up leaving off our nutritious meals because we have filled up on their unhealthy snacks.

Picking up on this, Satan encourages us to eat spiritual "snacks," short bits of spiritual food that give us a taste of God but not enough soul nourishment to get us through the day. A one-sentence Christian tweet or Facebook post. A three-minute YouTube worship video. A five-minute devotional reading. A fifteen-minute Bible study three times a week. A twenty-minute weekly prayer meeting. A "fellowship" breakfast with lots of eggs and bacon, and news and sports, but little spiritual conversation. A thirty-minute (and not a minute more!) Sunday morning sermon, sometimes without a single Bible reference. And we wonder why we are starving, weak, and about to collapse spiritually?

Well, let's get clever, too - clever enough to discern how snacking on God simply will not do! Why should we try to live a close-mouthed, underfed, undernourished, unspiritual, dissatisfying, restless Christian life when we can, if we will, open up our lives "wide" to the living Water and Bread of life, Jesus! He said He came down from heaven to feed our souls and that if we will drink the water He gives we will never thirst again. Isn't it time that we believe Him, and humbly and hungrily "open wide"?

Surely, we will reap whatever we decide to sow. If we give Jesus more, He will give us more. If we will give Him all we have, He will give us all He is. Then we will be living answers to Paul's prayer, "that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19).

Opening wide,

Greg Hinnant
Greg Hinnant Ministries